Tax cut letter signers mostly hail from safe seats

Although House Democrats rejected the president’s compromise on the tax cuts Thursday by an unbinding voice vote, those who signed a letter voicing their concerns have one thing in common: Compared to many of their other colleagues, their jobs are pretty safe.

The 53 Democrats who signed on to a letter by Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., calling the tax proposal "fiscally irresponsibile" and "grossly unfair" won their 2010 midterm re-election contests by an average of 29.5 points, according to an NBC analysis.

Four of the signatories -- Reps. Kanjorski, Grayson, Oberstar, and Shea-Porter -- lost their re-election bids.

Of the other 50, however, only seven even faced a single-digit race against their GOP opponent.

About a third of the signers (16) hail from either New York or California.

"America is wading into fiscal quicksand. Borrowing nearly a trillion dollars to finance tax cuts that disproportionately favor millionaires and billionaires threatens our ability to create jobs, grow the middle class and protect seniors," the letter reads. "Digging the country deeper into debt to pay for misguided tax policy is irresponsible and simply doesn't make sense."